Hell cruise

The Foodopoly: Too big to eat

We've come to understand that the banks are too big to fail, too big to take to trial, too big not to let them write our public policy, too big not to reward them for ruining our economy.

Why have we come to understand that?

We've been told it by a mega media cartel that has itself been deemed too big to fail, too big not to subsidize with our airwaves, too big not to reward with political ads buying back our airwaves in little bits and pieces.

Speaking of which, the buying of elections is moving rapidly in the direction of monopoly ownership itself.

The concentration of wealth and power in the United States over the past half century is not a story of ineluctable forces of technology or progress. It's a story of orchestrated corruption. Some of its key players were born after it had begun. One of them, the man who was president when some of the worst of the deregulatory legislation was passed, was of course Bill Clinton -- who ended welfare as we knew it and recreated it as we wish no one had ever imagined it. Giant corporations and banks are feeding at the public trough.

Letter from a drone protester's jail

Dear Friends,
Greetings from the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota! As of this writing, I am two months into a six month sentence imposed due to my protest of war crimes committed by remote control from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri against the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Betsy accompanied me here to Yankton on November 29, and that evening the Emmaus House Catholic Worker community, Beth Preheim, Michael Sprong and Dagmar Hoxie, hosted an evening of music, good food and good company to see me off. Activists from around the Midwest attended, including some sisters from the Benedictine monastery here.

In the morning after a great breakfast and Gospel prayer, Betsy and Dagmar and Michael, along with Renee Espeland and Elton Davis, Catholic Workers from Des Moines, and Jerry Ebner, a Catholic Worker from Omaha, walked a “last mile” with me to the gate of the prison where I expect to remain until the end of May.

Cambodia: Former King Sihanouk's war of words survive his cremation

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Former king Norodom Sihanouk was cremated on February 4, but the flames could not destroy the legacy of his words, describing how he transported weapons to Vietnam's communists to kill Americans, and promising guns and ammunition to Cambodians to avenge the coup which toppled him.

Crowned by the Nazi-backed Vichy French regime in 1941, Sihanouk's most violent quotes were uttered in the early 1970s when he committed what critics say were his bloodiest mistakes.

Sihanouk's words give voice to his revenge-filled, contradictory personality as one of Asia's last powerful monarchs.

The U.S. Pentagon and politicians who "secretly" began bombing Cambodia in 1969 for five years -- during Washington's spiraling Vietnam War -- can hear Sihanouk ordering his military to allow deadly assistance to communist-nationalist Viet Cong guerrillas who eventually chased U.S. forces out of Vietnam.

"My own militant support for the Viet Cong was...no mere gesture," Sihanouk said.

Sierra Club and Franklin County reach agreement on keeping sewage out of waterways

After more than a year of negotiations, the Sierra Club and Franklin County have reached an agreement to settle the Club’s claims that Franklin County is violating the federal Clean Water Act.

In June of 2011, the Sierra Club filed a sixty-day notice of intent to sue Franklin County and seventeen townships in federal court for illegal discharges from private sewage systems within Franklin County. Failing septic tanks and aerators are responsible for this contamination. The discharges have been contaminating Franklin County waterways with human and other waste, posing an environmental and public health threat.

The Sierra Club believes the agreed upon measures will form an important beginning in improving the health of Franklin County’s waterways and its residents. Although this settlement won’t completely eliminate the problem of contamination from home sewage treatment systems, it is certainly an improvement and will go a long way toward establishing a county program to eliminate sewage pollution from our waterways.

An Incubator for Peace

You’re young and prone to trouble. You get triggered quickly. Someone tells you that you’ve screwed up and you’re about to lash back. Then, instead, you think:

1. Look at the other person.

2. Say “OK.”

3. Stay calm.

This is what you do. And nothing happens, except that the moment passes and life goes on. Got it?

This column is another dispatch from Chicago, murder capital of America. How many of the murders — 506 of them last year — were committed by people who had no grasp of this particular social skill (accepting criticism or a consequence), or any of the dozen or so others tacked to the bulletin board in the peace room at Fenger High School?

These skills, which address an array of very basic life situations — e.g., getting no for an answer, greeting others, getting the teacher’s attention, disagreeing appropriately, making an apology, accepting compliments, asking for help and many more — come from the Father Flanagan Boys Town Classroom Social Skills list. The instructions are simple and precise and without moralizing, the equivalent of “lather, rinse, repeat.”

Super Max Hunger Strike Suspended After 36 Days

Feb 15th, 2013, Youngstown Ohio-"I did break my hunger strike, with none of my issues satisfied" said Cornelius Harris, in a message to supporters sent on Monday. He says he "felt it was better to come off and do some ground work rather than risk my overall health". Mr Harris had been on hunger strike since January 4th, making him the longest known hunger striker at Ohio's super max prison, Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP).

While on hunger strike, Mr Harris also went to trial, defending himself against criminal charges stemming from incidents of violence with OSP correctional officers. He was facing 9 felony charges, including two counts of aggravated attempted murder. He represented himself, arguing that the fights were self-defense against guards who were systematically harassing him and regularly threatening his life. A jury found him not guilty of the most serious charges, but the judge sentenced him to 32 years for the remaining assault and weapons possession charges. The maximum sentence Judge Maureen Sweeny could have given Mr Harris was 36 years.

Our atomic dominoes are falling

Two more atomic dominoes have hit the deck.

At least a half-dozen more teeter on the brink, which would take the US reactor count under 100.

But can we bury them before the next Fukushima erupts?

And will we still laugh when Fox "News" says there's more sun in Germany than California?   

Wisconsin's fully licensed Kewaunee reactor will now shut because it can't compete in the marketplace.

Florida's Crystal River will die because its owners poked holes in the containment during a botched repair job.

UBS and other financial experts say Entergy is bleeding cash at Vermont Yankee.  After blacking out the SuperBowl, Entergy has no problem stiffing a state that has sued to shut its only reactor.

But in the face being crushed by renewables and gas, the money men may finally pull the plug.

The same could happen to New York's Fitzpatrick and Ginna reactors, as well as the two at Indian Point, which need water permits and more from an increasingly hostile state.  New Jersey's Oyster Creek, slammed by Hurricane Sandy, and Nebraska's Ft. Calhoun, recently flooded, are also on the brink.

48 leaders arrested in historic act of civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline

This morning, 48 environmental, civil rights and community leaders from across the country joined together for a historic display of civil disobedience at the White House where they demanded that President Obama deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and address the climate crisis.

This morning, 48 environmental, civil rights and community leaders from across the country joined together for a historic display of civil disobedience at the White House where they demanded that President Obama deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and address the climate crisis.

Among the notable leaders involved in the civil disobedience were Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org; Julian Bond, former president of the NAACP; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance; Danny Kennedy, CEO of Sungevity, and Daryl Hannah, actress.

After blocking a main thoroughfare in front of the White House, and refusing to move when asked by police, the activists were arrested and transported to Anacostia for processing by the U.S. Park Police Department.

What Obama Said -- and What He Meant -- About Climate Change, War and Civil Liberties

The words in President Obama’s “State of the Union” speech were often lofty, spinning through the air with the greatest of ease and emitting dog whistles as they flew.

Let’s decode the president’s smooth oratory in the realms of climate change, war and civil liberties.

“For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change.”

We’ve done so little to combat climate change -- we must do more.

“I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change…”

Climate change is an issue that can be very good for Wall Street. Folks who got the hang of “derivatives” and “credit default swaps” can learn how to handle “cap and trade.” The corporate environmental groups are on board, and maybe we can offer enough goodies to big corporations to make it worth their while to bring enough of Congress along.

“The natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that.”

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